Tag Archives: FIFA 2014 World Cup Brazil

Now that the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa is pver, the World is already looking forward to the next one, the FIFA 2014 World Cup Brazil.

People are already starting to look and search information about Brazil, the official host cities, what to expect and do during the World Cup. One of the official host cities confirmed by FIFA is Curitiba, the capital city of the Brazilian state of Paraná (the state of the world-wide famous Iguassu Falls too). Curitiba has the largest population (1.8 million inhabitants – 7th largest nationwide) and the largest economy in Southern Brazil. According to he American magazine Reader’s Digest, the city is considered the best place to live in Brazil…

If Curitiba is considered the best city to live in Brazil, what about to visit? What to do? What to expect?

The EMBRATUR – Brazilian Tourist Board, selected 14 good reasons for you to visit Curitiba during your travellings around Brazil and of course, during the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil:

On May 31st, FIFA confirmed that Curitiba will be one of the 12 host cities for the 2014 World Cup that will be held in Brazil. The other cities are Porto Alegre (South); São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Belo Horizonte (Southeast); Natal, Recife, Fortaleza and Salvador (Northeast); Cuiabá and Brasília (Center-west); and Manaus (North).

Competing with the city of Florianópolis, according to Beto Richa, the mayor of Curitiba, the city was chosen for having one of the best technical infrastructures among the other candidate cities and also the excellent project presented to CBF (Brazilian Confederation of Soccer) and FIFA (International Federation of Soccer), responsible for the organization of the world championship. “The project will guarantee the choice and arrival of investments that will bring permanent benefits for the city, besides heating the economy during the event.” said the mayor.

The expectation is very big and we believe that it will reach several cities in the Paraná state. Cities like Londrina, Maringá, Foz do Iguaçu and Paranaguá hope to receive tourists and even to accommodate teams that will be disputing the world championship.

Curitiba has also a project to be the 2014 World Cup Communication Center.

The game in Curitiba will be held at Arena da Baixada (Atlético Paranaense’s Stadium). The soccer club is already ready to begin the constructions to adapt the stadium in agreement with the FIFA norms in relation to safety, comfort, covering, illumination, parking lot area, people’s flow in the entrance and exit, etc.

The city will also need improvements and investments like new road connections, improvements in the collective public transportation, sporting infrastructure, accessibility and urban mobility, investments in ports and airports, public safety, environment, health, sanitation, energy and hotels. Curitiba has around160 hotels and 13.000 rooms and the plan is to increase this projection to 184 hotels and 15.000 rooms until 2014. About 47% of these lodging options are located around 2 kilometers of the Arena da Baixada Stadium.

Curitiba wants to do a lot more than host the event. The city is working really hard to create and offer excellent conditions to receive the tourists that will come to Brazil to watch the games.

According to the Tourism Minister, Luiz Barretto, “Curitiba wants to realize an exemplary World Cup, not thinking only about the sports scene but also in tourism and receptivity scene. This objective is really important because we have the World Cup inside and out of the stadiums. A great World Cup must leave the tourists a sensation that they saw a lot, but not everything. In other words, we want them to leave Brazil already planning on coming back to the country and Curitiba is working for this.”

Nowadays, Paraná receives 8,5 million people per year. In 2007, Curitiba received 2,3 million tourists.